Aidan Farrelly (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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472. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if his Department has taken advice in respect of the use of artificial intelligence (AI) within his Department in 2024 and to date in 2025; if any section of his Department currently makes use of artificial intelligence; if he will outline the purposes it is utilised for and costs associated with same; if he has consulted with any consultancy firms in respect of the use of AI; if he will provide a schedule of consultants engaged and costs of same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6341/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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In 2024 my Department consulted with Ernst and Young Business Consultants on the potential use of a Microsoft AI product, specifically Copilot for Power BI, to assess if this could enhance the flexibility and capability of the Housing For All reporting service that is available through the Insights data platform.

My Department does not currently conduct any operations using artificial intelligence tools, but in 2025 it is intended to test the Copilot for Power BI product on key publicly available datasets in a secure test environment. This will involve a robust assessment of the results to identify any potential opportunities for the use of artificial intelligence tools.

There is no decision on the use of AI beyond this initial testing and there is no associated financial cost to my Department